Türkiye (formerly Turkey) has lost 77% of its lakes over the last six decades, and those that remain are “locked away” due to pollution, lack of oxygen and reduction in surface area. This suggests that the Euro-Asian country is facing a serious water crisis, the Spanish platform EFE:Verde reports.
This is the diagnosis that has led a group of scientists and politicians to call for ‘a specific action plan to deal with the drought in the lake region’, including a ban on urban development, Begüm Çelikdelen, deputy director general of the Istanbul Water and Sewage Administration (ISKI), told EFE. Erol Kesici, scientific adviser to the Turkish Society for Nature Conservation (TTKD) and one of the experts, said:
“Of Türkiye’s 240 lakes, 186 have dried up completely in the last 60 years. The rest are already severely affected.”
Istanbul, the country’s largest city with a population of around 16 million, is already suffering from a serious water crisis, perhaps the most serious in Turkey today, according to Çelikdelen. Due to urban development, the reservoirs that supply the city with water are now located in residential areas. Its dams and reservoirs are ‘under pressure from increased construction, opening up of forests for housing and decreasing rainfall’, he added.
